Twelve Moments in Anime 2010 No. 4 – Love! Love! Tenkyoken!

G Gundam was the last of my brushes with Imagawa-directed anime, and it was my least favorite, though a more accurate term would be that I thought it was the least totally fucking awesome. It has some definite flaws Giant Robo and Shin Mazinger Z do not (most notably a couple of strings of truly crappy episodes), but it says a lot about how good the good is that G is my second favorite Gundam series behind Zeta.

When I think about G Gundam, the ending is what leaps out at me. It’s everything that is wonderful about the series: On one side, you have this overgrown monstrosity of a Gundam — all fangs and mecha tentacles and what not — with Rain Mikamura at the head. On the other side is Domon Kasshu, wondering how he could possibly defeat the Devil Gundam without also destroying Rain. And then Domon realizes that what he needs to do is not fight . . . but to show Rain that he loves her, to really let her feel it for the first time.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m a huge fucking sap. I hate sappy endings as much as anyone when they don’t work and aren’t earned by the story, but when they do work, I eat ’em all up. G Gundam‘s ending works because it is indescribably awesome. After watching Rain and Domon for 48 episodes, how could you not love them finally being together and teaming up to CRUSH AND DESTROY the Devil Gundam with the power of their Love?

Domon and Rain forever.

A Violent Battle Between Head and Heart

I had a jumbled idea of what I wanted this post to be about beforehand, but ghostlightning’s great — and well timed! — post yesterday had me thinking a bit more about what I wanted to express. Definitely give his post a read, because it is very interesting; I haven’t read the manga he writes about, but it’s not completely necessary to understand the post.

A necessary warning: I try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but there are a couple from Now and Then, Here and There‘s final episode that I believed were necessary to make my points clearer, so if you want to avoid all spoilers for that series, then tread carefully or avoid the post altogether. Sorry. And no images in this post because, frankly, writing this has wiped me out, and I don’t have the energy to get images right now, haha. Maybe I’ll edit some in later.

When I watched Now and Then, Here and There a few weeks back, I wondered how the series would end. It is not an easy show to watch — it pushes the boundaries of suffering, cruelty and violence in ways many anime do not dare, both in content and presentation. I wondered how the finale would top this; now, I never thought there would be some large-scale bloody battle with both sides duking it out, because it seemed to me that this would run counter to the series’ message, but still, I wondered what would happen. Well, there is blood shed — plenty of it — and the situation resolves itself through a Deus Ex Machina of sorts. And the survivors are left with what they have.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny

WARNING: Spoilers for Gundam SEED within this post. Read with caution.

In many ways, Gundam SEED Destiny is like the mirror image of its predecessor. Nowhere is this more apparent than in how the plot progresses throughout the series — more specifically, how the quality of the plot progresses.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

Ever since I watched Mobile Suit Gundam 00, I’ve been slowly making my way through each Gundam series. I’ve already seen Wing (enjoyed it, although it becomes increasingly convoluted as it goes along), 08th MS Team (like that it’s basically a war movie dressed up in Gundam colors) and Zeta Gundam (like it, although my god are there a ton of really annoying, frustrating characters). Recently I watched Gundam SEED, which, like Wing, has a distinctly mixed reputation, to say the least. And although I do like the series once it gets going, that reputation really is deserved.